Boomtown 2050

Perth, Australia, is one of the world's most isolated cities in one of the world's most precious biological regions, and it is struggling to find sustainable sources of water, food, and energy. A place that was for so long synonymous with the great Australian dream, Perth now faces an uncertain future. The city is changing at a phenomenal rate. Latest predictions indicate Perth will grow from its current 1.5 million people to 4.2 million by 2056. To meet this increase, the entire city and its infrastructure need to double in size in the next four decades. This will have huge consequences for the culture and ecology, with the city's long term survival is at stake. Already sprawled further than almost any other city on Earth, Perth is almost entirely dependent on cars. To date, low density suburbia has served the city well, but is it the right form of urbanism for the 21st Century? This book goes well beyond the sprawl versus anti-sprawl debates and shows various ways the whole city could be creatively re-organized to suit the challenges of the 21st Century. The book is designed to help the community visualize the results of planning decisions and get everyone involved in the debate about how the city should grow. This is an important and timely book for Perth, but it also presents a model piece of research that could be emulated in any city that is experiencing rapid change.